All I've Tried to Hide
by wtchcool
Summary: How could he have been so stupid? Let's say, Quiver pre-slash. SPOILERS!
1. Chapter 1

"All I've Tried to Hide"

By Wtchcool

Disclaimer: If I owned "Arrow," "Who Has to Know?" wouldn't be AU.

Superheroes never have this problem in the movies.

At least, he's pretty sure they don't. Apparently he missed a few films during his time on the island. But he can't recall cameras ever posing a problem for a secret identity before.

How could he have been so stupid as to get caught changing? Reckless mistakes were supposed to have been left behind with the old Oliver Queen. At least he'd chosen to tell Diggle and bring him in on the secret. Now Quentin Lance had not only figured it out, but was no doubt already spreading it all over town…

There had to be a way out of this or everything would be ruined.

~PB~

Quentin resisted the urge to beat his head (or the suspect's) against the table. Of course Oliver Queen would refuse to talk until his lawyers arrived. (Overpaid assholes; Queen's attorneys probably made more in one day than Laurel made in one year.) Why had he expected anything else from that arrogant, no good, murdering—?

"I think that you're too close to this investigation, Detective Lance," Queen said matter-of-factly. Lance growled in response.

"I'm not referring to the fact that you hate me, although I have to tell you that that hurts," Oliver continued. "But my attorneys tell me that one of the charges is that I allegedly assaulted you."

"I know it was you, you little—"

"You say that, as this 'Hood', I bent you over the hood of your car and held you pinned there. Wow, that must have been…terrifying." Queen smiled slightly, his face betraying the fact that he'd wanted to end the sentence differently.

Because, of course, Queen was there that night, so he knew. He knew—or had guessed—the way Quentin's body had reacted to having the Hood's pressed against him. His face flushed.

God, he wanted to wipe that smirk off of the vigilante's face.

"I've got news for you: It doesn't matter how much money your mother spends on your representation. You're not going to weasel out of this. You're going to be in prison for a long, long time."

"You know, I've instructed the attorneys not to try to get the charges dropped," Oliver said, casually.

"What?"

"Mind you, getting the video thrown out as inadmissible is still a priority, but I want to go to trial.

"I may not have gone to law school like Laurel, but I know about Double Jeopardy. If I'm acquitted, I can't be tried again."

~PB~

Him and his big mouth; he'd just had to mention Laurel, didn't he? Never mind that before this incident, Lance had already hated him for two things—letting Sarah die, and breaking Laurel's heart.

When he got out of prison, Quentin would never speak to him again.

"You're not going to be acquitted."

"Oh? Worst case scenario, I go with the insanity defense. It's foolproof. You would not believe what happened to me on that island."

"I could care less. At least you didn't go down with the ship."

"I didn't kill Sarah, Detective. If I could have saved her, I would have. I couldn't even save my own father!

"I know that nothing I can do will bring Sarah back—"

"No, nor the men you've killed since you returned to Starling City. Save the sob stories for the jury, Queen."

Quentin turned and left the room.

With luck, Oliver would be able to convince the jury and the public that he wasn't the hooded vigilante. Nothing short of a miracle would convince Quentin Lance to give him the time of day.

Oliver bowed his head and cursed whoever had invented the surveillance camera.

**Author's Note: The title of this fic is once again from the All American Rejects' "Dirty Little Secret."**

**Wow. The end of last night's episode was epic. Sadly, it made my first Quiver fic AU. No doubt next week's episode will do the same to this fic, so I thought I'd better get this out quickly. **


	2. The Color of Truth

_The Color of Truth_

"Why green?" Quentin asked.

"I don't follow," Oliver replied. Thus far the polygraph examination had been fairly predictable. He'd only had to lie about being at the prison; being the hooded vigilante; being responsible for only the one death (Sarah's)…He'd expected all of those questions, but not this one.

"The green hood," Quentin began.

"The hood in the duffel bag that I found," Oliver interrupted him.

"And the green arrows," Detective Lance continued, scowling. "What's the sudden obsession with that color?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask the actual 'Hood.' Are we done here?"

~PB~

Oliver looked at the would-be assassin that Lance had just shot.

"You saved me," he said, blinking. "Why? You hate me. I know you do."

Detective Lance put away his gun and ignored the question.

"Take a seat, Queen, and we'll get you out of that ankle bracelet."

He'd been so sure that Queen was the Hood. The polygraph did nothing to change his mind about that. The reason it wasn't admissible in court was because the test was unreliable. People could and had fooled the so-called lie-detector. You just had to have very good control over your body.

The Hood sighting on the opposite side of town…that was more complicated. It didn't rule out the possibility of Queen being the vigilante. The billionaire would simply have had to convince some schmuck to don green leather and hide his face; shouldn't be a difficult task for a man with Queen's resources and talents of persuasion.

But the D.A. was already mad at him for arresting Queen without consulting her office first and after this fiasco, no jury would convict him. All he'd accomplish would be to widen the rift with Laurel.

~PB~

Oliver made no move to sit.

"You didn't tell me about your wife," he said. Laurel might not have outright said that he was responsible for her mother leaving them, but she'd given him a pretty clear picture. If he hadn't taken Sarah with him on the Queen's Gambit, she wouldn't have died, and then Lance wouldn't have become a workaholic—

"Ex-wife," Lance grunted.

—and Quentin's wife wouldn't have divorced him.

"It's none of your business," the detective continued.

"It is if it gives you another reason to hate me."

"I don't need another reason. I have plenty. Now, the sooner you sit the sooner we can stop being cooped up in here—"

"It's the color of truth."

"What?"

"That question you asked during the polygraph? Green's supposed to be the color of truth, which is ironic because I'm pretty sure the only question I answered truthfully was my name. No, wait; there was also the question about my date and place of birth…"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"It's called confessing. I've changed my mind; I want to take the plea deal."

"The Hood was just spotted on—"

"And I'm sure it's really difficult to get your hands on green leather, but it sounds like you have a copycat on your hands. I should be flattered. Call the D.A. and tell her I want to take the deal. I'll do my time in the mental institution."

"I thought we agreed you weren't crazy."

"Yeah, well, I think falling for the man that arrested me qualifies as insane. You don't have to say anything now. I probably wouldn't want to hear it. But, I'm hoping that when I get out of the hospital, we can talk. I can apologize for assaulting you that time, but I wanted to talk to you without you slapping the handcuffs on me…"

"Damn it, Queen!"

"Like I said, the idea of us is pretty crazy. But I don't think there's a shrink in the world that'll dissuade me.

"Maybe you could visit me in the hospital sometimes."

Lance shook his head. Maybe he should be committed, too, because for a second there, he'd wanted to say yes.

THE END

**Author's Note: I've apparently got to remember to type "The End" at the end of fics now. This was supposed to have been a one-shot. Yet somehow, despite being marked complete, three people added it to their list of alerts. There you go, another chapter, though perhaps it could stand on its own.**

**Thanks to rebelwilla and IronAmerica for reviewing! Thanks to those that added the story to your list of favorites. **

**Obviously, I am ignoring the Oliver/Laurel from the show, so *sighs* yes, this is AU. Would it kill them to give us Quiver?**


End file.
